short August diving trip from sydney to.... ?

hello!

I finish my degree in August and would like to go on a short 4-5 day trip. I have been diving off Cairns before and while that's an option, it's going to be +$1500 for a 3 day live aboard including flights and extra accommodation.

considering that, i was thinking some other options might present themselves... I wouldn't want to spend much more than that, but flights to Fiji and especially Palau are cheap at the moment, i was wondering if anyone could impart some suggestions on a reasonably short but good trip away. another issue is I will be travelling alone.

as much as I'd like to go back to Thailand, I think the 8 hrs flight is just a bit too far, especially since i refuse to stay on Phuket so it's a flight, then a boat to Phi Phi which cancels out 2 days.

Hello Brako,

Right now you can find airfares from Sydney to Fiji for as little as AUD 465 - return and inlcuding taxes.

Matava Resort on Kadavu has three night packages with two days diving for only 1020 AUD in relaxing eco-friendly bures and inlcuding all meals.

This resort has just won the PADI Project Aware Marine Envronment Award for the second year running.

Uprising Resort in Pacific Harbour has four night stays with three dive days for only 690 AUD not inlcuding meals - shark enounters are highly recommended if you like tigers and bulls....

yeah Fiji is looking to be the front runner at the moment with possibly the Gili islands, I'm looking up the prices for there as well.

how is the diving off Nadi? i went to Plantation island as a young child and remember the snorkling to be absolutely amazing, (probably not the best place to go to first as that turned into the benchmark for what i thought all coral reefs were like ) but with time being a rather critical issue... i would prefer to get off the plane and dive ASAP.

Why not go up and dive Byron Bay? We did several days there in 2005, and we had a ball. The town is lovely, and we stayed at a reasonably priced and very comfortable place which is set up specifically for divers (Planula Lodge). The diving was superb!

hmm... that's an option! I actually spent every Christmas up there until i was 21 with family (Byron, Lennox, and Alstonville) and have a cousin who's just gotten back into diving who lives in Lennox.

Palau is out... after reading the article on SMH i asked for a quote and received back a price of $2850 for 6 nights which is out of my budget.

I'll spend a bit more time investigating liveaboards out of Cairns (is there another airport worth flying into to get to the GBR?)

i wouldn't mind going to Fiji, but i think i may end up chickening out as i will be travelling alone I think going back to somewhere like Fiji I'd like to go with a [-]victim[/-] girlfriend